Digital Boomerang Singapore 

Last week, during a client meeting, someone brought up Flash and how, perhaps, we should use it more. We winced slightly. The client’s site wasn’t one that warranted flash. The site is predominantly one that seeks to deliver content.

Why do clients love Flash?

We think the appeal is the lovely effects in Flash. Some really well executed Flash presentations can really make you sigh with pleasure. It’s also a fabulous way to make your rather static website come to life.

What we have against Flash

Our main gripe is that a completely Flash website isn’t very search engine-friendly. Flash content doesn’t get indexed the way text coded up in HTML/XHTML does. Our pet peeve is that Flash pages are hard to change - everytime you need to make a change, you need to get the designer to do it. And not many companies have the luxury of having a Flash-savvy designer on call.

Why we love Flash

On the other hand, Flash is great for virtual tours, interactive walk-throughs, etc. They explain concepts through motion, something pure text (even with infographics) cannot do. That’s why we always encourage Flash for parts of sites but never to use it to build the site in entirety.

Choose wisely

It all boils down to the client’s choice. If the client insists on Flash, they should at least know its shortcomings. For instance, a flashy intro might delight first time visitors but are likely to annoy repeat visitors who don’t find your animation so cute after having watched it several times.

Every technology has its pros and cons. Knowing when to use Flash is key to striking that perfect balance between pleasing your users and adding some fancy bells and whistles. But it’s not always easy to convince the client to use Flash where it’s best applied, if they’ve fallen in love with animation. That’s been our experience.

Time to have beer and leave persuasion to tomorrow.

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